Luminaire and transformer housing



March 22, 1949. v c. w. FLOOD, JR 2,464,971

LUMINAIRE AND TRANSFORMER HOUSING I Filed April 26, 1946 V v m I I 42 IINVENTOR. .c'. M F2 000 We.

AUM hY Patented Mar. 22, 1949 LUIWINAIRE AND TRANSFORMER HOUSING CharlesW. Flood, Jr., East Orange, N. J., as-

signor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application April 26, 1946, Serial N0.665,305

This invention relates to discharge devices and, more particularly, to aluminaire and transformer housing, for such devices and including safetyfeatures.

The principal object of my invention, generally considered, is toprovide a luminaire and transformer housing for discharge devices sodesigned that the housing encloses one lamp holder and is provided witha hole to permit insertion of the lamp, whereby when the lamp is inplace the secondary circuit is completed and it is necessary to removethe lamp before the transformer housing can be lifted, thereby providingfor automatically breaking the primary circuit.

Another object of my invention is to provide a luminaire for dischargedevices formed with a single resiliently mounted contact in a socketenclosed in a transformer housing, and a rigid double-contact socketacting as a switch in the primary circuit to be closed by a dischargedevice contact.

A further object of my invention is to provide such a housing for highvoltage transformers on a discharge lamp luminaire, that the primarycircuit must be broken if the housing is to be removed.

A still further object of my invention is to avoid exposing open coreand coil transformers and lead splices of discharge device luminaires,while having a housing enclosing one socket of the device with a hole inone wall thereof for insertion of said device, the latter completingboth primary and secondary circuits when in position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention, relating to theparticular arrangement and construction of the variousparts, will becomeapparent as the description proceeds.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a luminaire and transformer housingholding a discharge lamp.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1 withportions of the housing in horizontal section.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the luminaire andhousing assembly, on the line IIIIII of Fig. 2, in the direction of thearrows.

Fig. 4 is a wiring diagram.

Luminaires for discharge devices, such as germicidalultra-violet-generating tubes manufac- 7 Claims. (01. 315-57) tured bythe assignee of the present application, have in the past beenunprovided with means whereby the secondary circuit is de-activated whenthe transformer housing is removed. This involves a hazard in the caseof open core and coil transformers which would be exposed, as

would splices between the transformer and leads.

In accordance with my invention, the transformer housing is designed soas to also enclose one lamp socket or holder, with a hole in thetransformer housing to permit insertion of one end and contact terminalof the lamp. When the lamp is in place the secondary circuit iscompleted and it is necessary to remove the lamp before the transformerhousing can be lifted, the other contact terminal of the lampfunctioning as a switch, automatically breaking the primary circuit uponlamp removal.

Referring to the drawing in detail, like parts A being designated bylike reference characters,

there is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 a luminaire and transformer housinggenerally designated I I, and

comprising a base l2, desirably formed of sheet metal and on which aremounted sockets l3 and L4. Adjacent the socket I3 is mounted a highvoltage transformer I5. Enclosing said transformer, as well as thesocket l3 and the splices between the transformer and leads, is ahousing l6, also desirably formed of sheet metal, one end of which mayinterlock with bracket H, upstanding from the base I2, as by havingprojections l8 fitting slots I9 therein, and the other end of which maybe secured to the base as by means of a set screw 2|.

The wall 22 of the housing l6, adjacent the socket I4, is apertured, asindicated at 23, to receive one end portion of an elongated dischargedevice or Sterilamp 24, the socket I3 being, as diagrammaticallyillustrated in Fig. 4, provided with a resilient or spring mountedcontact 25 connected to one terminal of the transformer secondary windin26 by means of conductor 21, whereby the contact 25 may be pushed insufiiciently that the other end of the device 24 may clear the exteriorof the socket l4, adapting the end contact thereof to be inserted tobridge the fixed and spaced contacts 28 and 29 therein. The contact 28is connected by conductor 3| to one terminal of the primary winding 32,the other terminal of which is connected by conductor 33 to one terminal34 to a source ofpower. The other contact 29 is connected by conductor35 to the other terminal 36 to said source of power. In this way, thecontact terminal 3'! on the device 24 acts as a switch in the primarycircuit to the transformer l5. The circuit is completed as by connectingthe other terminal of the secondary 3\gzinding 26 to the terminal 34 byconduc- As will be seen particularly from Fig. 3, the conductors to theterminals 34 and 36 may pass out through an aperture 39 in the base ofthe luminaire, while the conductors 3i and 35 may pass to the spacedcontacts 28 and 29, respectively, first through an aperture 4| in saidbase and then through a preferably sheet metal housing or conduit 42,secured to the lower surface of the base, and finally up throughaperture 43 in said base to the contacts of said socket [4.

From the foregoing disclosure, it will ,be seen that the transformerhousing l6 cannot be removed while the device is in place, because thelatter passes through a wall thereof. This, of course, means that thedevice 24 must first be entirely removed, thereby necessarily not onlybreaking the primary circuit through contacts 28 and 29, but breakingthe secondary circuit through the device itself. This insures that theparts enclosed by the housing are de-energi zed prior to housingremoval, thereby complying with the requirements of the fireunderwriters, and generally providing a safe fixture.

Although a preferred embodiment of my invention has been disclosed, itwill be understood that modifications may be made within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A luminaire and transformer housing comprising complementarydischarge lamp sockets, a transformer mounted adjacent one of saidsockets and comprising primary and secondary windings, said sockethaving a contact, a transformer housing to cover said socket and formedwith a wall aperture through which one end portion of a lamp passes onits way to said contact,

a conductor connecting one terminal of said secondary winding to saidcontact, the other socket having a pair of contacts adapted to bebridged by a lamp contact terminal, and conductors connecting oneterminal of said primary winding and the other terminal of saidsecondary winding. to one terminal to a source of power, one of saidother socket contacts to the other terminal to said source of power, andthe other contact of said other socket to the other terminal of saidprimary winding.

2. A luminaire and transformer housing comprising a base, discharge lampsockets Nos.

1 and 2 mounted thereon, a transformer mounted 1 adjacent socket No. 1and comprising primary and secondary windings, socket No. 1 having aresiliently mounted contact, a transformer housing to cover said socketand formed with a wall aperture through which one end portion of a lamppasses on its way to said contact, one

tact to the other terminal of said primary winding.

3. A luminaire and transformer housing comprising complementarydischarge lamp sockets, one of which has a resiliently mounted contactand the other a pair of fixed spaced contacts, a transformer mountedadjacent the socket with the resiliently mounted contact, and comprisingprimary and secondary windings, a transformer housing to cover saidsocket and formed with a wall aperture through which one end portion ofa lamp passes on its way to said contact, a conductor connecting oneterminal of said secondary winding to said contact, a contact terminalof the lamp when in place bridging the spaced contacts of the othersocket, and conductors connecting one terminal of said primary windingand the other terminal of said secondary winding to one terminal to asource of power, one of said other socket contacts to the other terminalto said source of power, and the other contact to the ,other terminal ofsaid primary winding.

4. A luminaire and transformer housing comprising complementarydischarge lamp sockets, a high voltage transformer mounted adjacent oneof said sockets and comprising primary and secondary windings, saidsocket having a contact, a housing for said socket and transformer, saidhousing having an aperture in a side wall through which an end portionof an associated discharge lamp passes, a conductor connecting oneterminal of said secondary winding to said contact, the other sockethaving a pair of contacts to be bridged by a contact terminal of saidlamp, and conductors connecting one terminal of said primary winding andthe other terminal of said secondary winding to one terminal to a sourceof power, one of said other socket contacts to the other terminal tosaid source of power, and the other of said pair of contacts to theother terminal of said primary winding, whereby said housing cannot betaken off without removing the discharge lamp and breaking the circuitto the primary winding.

5. In a luminaire assembly, an electrical discharge device comprising anelongated tube,a contact at each end of said tube, and a socket for eachcontact, one of said sockets comprising a pair of spaced contactsbridged by one of the contacts of said tube, a transformer adjacent theother socket, and a housing for said transformer, said tube passingthrough a hole in a wall of said housing, and the spaced contacts beingin the power circuit to the primary winding of said transformer, wherebythe housing can be taken off only after the discharge device has beenremoved, breaking said power circuit.

6. In a luminaire assembly, an electrical discharge device comprising anelongated tube, a contact at each end of said tube, and a pair ofsockets, one for each contact, one of said sockets being unenclosed andcomprising a pair of con: tacts bridged by a tube contact, a transformeradjacent the other socket, and a housing for said transformer, said tubepassing through a hole in a wall of said housi g, and the bridgedcontacts being in the power circuit to the primary winde ing of saidtransformer, whereby the housing can be taken off only after thedischarge device has been removed, breaking said power circuit.

7. In a luminaire assembly, an electrical discharge device comprising anelongated tube, a contact at each end of said tube, and a socket foreach contact, one of said sockets comprising P i 0f c d S QQW'PP i ed byone of h 5 6 contacts of said tube, a transformer adjacent the othersocket, and a housing for said transformer, REFERENCES CITED said othersocket havingasingle contact resilient- The following references are ofrecord in the 1y mounted, and the housing having a hole in file of thispatent: a side wall, so that the tube may be positioned 5 I by passingit through said hole to engage and UNITED STATES PATENTS push inwardsaid resiliently mounted contact Number Name Date until the other end ofsaid tube can be fitted 1,037,290 Moore Sept. 3, 1912 into said othersocket with the end contact of 1,689,485 Hendry Oct. 30, 1928 said tubebridging said spaced contacts, and said 10 2,393,180 Merrill Jan. 15,1946 spaced contacts being in the power circuit to FOREIGN PATENTS theprimary winding of said transformer, whereby said socket acts as aswitch breaking the ber Country Date power circuit when the dischargedevice is re- 5, rea rita 1926 moved and the housing can be taken ofi"only 15 after removal of said device.

CHARLES W. FLOOD, JR.

